Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses

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Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses

• By Phyllis Butler

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Chesapeake Lighthouses
Contents

• Types of Lighthouses
• About Chesapeake Lighthouses
• Lighthouses around the Bay

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Types of Lighthouses
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Towers and Cottages

• Towers and cottages were the first lighthouses in
  Chesapeake Bay.
• Usually made out of stone or brick, and were
  built in viewing distance for ships.
• Were used until the 1800s because they came up
  with a more efficient light source for the ships.
  
• The oldest of this type is still lit in Maryland
  today.
• Shore erosion damaged many of these lighthouses.

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Concord Point Lighthouse
Havre, Maryland
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Screwpiles

• Built between 1854-1900.
• Built in with iron legs, which are stabilized
  into the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.
• Normally placed on mouths of rivers or shoals.
• Because of manmade barriers against currents and
  high winds screwpiles were the best design.
• 42 of this type were built in the Bay.

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Drum Point Lighthouse
Calvert Museum, Solomons Island
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Caisson Lights

• The sturdiest lighthouses in the Bay.
• 12 were built between 1873-1914.
• Used to help ships in the Bays deepest water.
• Built on platforms, which were sunken deep into
  the water.
• On the platforms are towers, which raise the
  lighthouse above the water.

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Sandy Point Shoal
Sandy Point State Park
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Lightships

• First lightship was built in 1820, and the last
  was 1960.
• Wooden sail powered vessels that were used as
  floating lights.
• Were built to sustain harsh conditions that
  lighthouses would never be able to stand.
• Mostly used in deep waters and shoals.
• They soon became equipped with more advanced
  lighting and radio technology.

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Lightship 116, Chesapeake
museum vessel by the Baltimore Maritime Museum
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About Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses
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Chesapeake Lighthouses
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Lighthouses

• Today there are 30 lighthouses along the bay, but
  only 23 of those are used for navigation.
• There were originally 74 lighthouses that
  illuminated the Chesapeake Bay.
• In the 1900s electricity replaced oil and
  lighthouse keepers.

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Chesapeake Lighthouses

• When Lighthouse services begun it was 1812.
• Land Purchased by the Federal Government. In
  1832.
• Lighthouse construction was completed in 1833.
• Keepers house was demolished due to vandalism in
  1971.
• In 1948, Fannie May Salter retires. Station
  becomes automated.

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• Before the invention of modern navigation,
  sailors depended on lighthouses to warn them of
  dangerous shallow water areas in the bay.
• Each lighthouse flashes a different pattern of
  light to signify their location.
• Early Chesapeake Bay lighthouses were towers of
  brick or stone built along the coastline.
• Virginia has 11 historic lighthouse, 9 of which
  are active and 1 historic lightship.
• The nations second tallest lighthouse Is in
  Virginia.

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Map of Lighthouses
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Lighthouses around the Bay
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• Most of Virginias lighthouses are off limits to
  the public.
• Local Preservation efforts, formally weak, have
  strengthened in recent years.
• Many Virginia lighthouses have been lost,
  including all of the former screwpile lighthouses
  of the Chesapeake Bay and the James, York, and
  Rappahannock rivers.
• The Tangier Sounds lighthouse, a square cottage
  screwpile was demolished in 1961.
• Rappahannock lighthouse is the second tallest aid
  to navigation in the country.

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• The Smith Point lighthouse replaced an 1868
  screwpile light house, destroyed by ice in 1895.
• Windmill Point lighthouse has been inactive since
  1954.
• The Great Wicomico River lighthouse was
  demolished in 1967.
• The Sting Ray lighthouse is a museum and also
  serves as the office of Sting Ray Harbor Marina.
• Wolf Trap is located on a dangerous shoal in the
  Chesapeake south of the mouth of the
  Rappahannock. It has been active since 1894.

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• The New Point Comfort Lighthouse is located on a
  very small island in Chesapeake.
• It was renovated in 1988, severely vandalized in
  1994, then repaired and relit December 12, 1999.
• York Spit was demolished in 1960.
• York Spit has been active since 1870.
• Tue Marshes has been active since 1875.

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Thomas Point Lighthouse

• One of the most popular lighthouses along the
  Chesapeake Bay.
• It was put into use in November 1875, and
  lighthouse keepers kept the light burning for
  over a century.
• It was replaced with electricity in 1986.
• Still in operation today in Annapolis, at the
  mouth of the South River.
• National historic landmark, and is owned by Coast
  Guard Actives Baltimore.

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Thomas Point Lighthouse
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Assateague Island Lighthouse

• Was first built in 1831,and was 45 feet tall
• Construction of the new lighthouse was starter in
  1860 but was stopped cause of civil war and was
  resumed in 1865, and finished in 1867
• Coast guards owns lighthouse
• The tower has a unique dumbwaiter system alcoved
  into the water
• The Argand Lamp displayed a beam for 14 nautical
  miles.

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Assateague Island Lighthouse
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Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

• Was Constructed in 1791
• Was 1st to be authorized, completed and
  established by the U.S. Congress
• In 1862 the confederate army removed 1st order
  Frensel lens and destroyed the lantern.
• Light was repaired shortly after but was
  extinguished in 1881 due to structure being
  unstable
• The Lighthouse cost was a little over 15,000

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Old Cape Henry Lighthouse

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New Cape Henry Lighthouse

• Located within Fort Story
• Constructed to replace Old Cape Henry Lighthouse
  in 1791and was 163 ft. tall
• Was electrified in 1923
• Became 2nd Lighthouse in U.S. to have radio
  beacon in 1929
• Was built with prefabricated cast iron plates

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New Cape Henry Lighthouse
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Old Point Comfort Lighthouse

• Was built in 1802
• Badly battered by naval gunfire in the Civil War
• 54 ft. tall and was constructed with sandstone
• Has been owned by U.S. army since 1973
• Was built in typical Colonial Revival Style

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Old Point Comfort Lighthouse

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Newport News Middleground Lighthouse

• Was built in 1891
• In Hampton Roads, Virginia
• Because of Naval Base in Norfolk the lighthouse
  board requested a light house built on shallow
  area
• 1,000 tons of riprap stone were set to protect
  the lighthouse from the current
• The oldest caisson construction of the Chesapeake
  Bay

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Newport News Middleground Lighthouse

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The End